Hi Iain & other readers,

In case you're not aware of this :

The Dragons Friendly Society ( publishers of Postgate/Firmin DVDs ) did a crowdfunding campaign using Kickstarter to help finance this project.

It lasted about 3 weeks, ending in early October.
I wasn't aware of it til a few days ago ( they found it hard to get any media interest incidentally ).

They raised the needed amount though it was a bit touch & go apparently.

Although the campaign was over I contacted the DFS & they were grateful to accept a donation
from myself & my partner
( we offered enough to cover the likely cost of the DVD - though that price hasn't been specified yet - plus a bit more so as to able to contribute to this wonderful project.
The DVD will be posted when it's ready ).

Much more info at the DFS website of course.

When the campaign was on-going, one of the things you could participate in was an afternoon with about 30 people at Peter Firmin's barn in Kent where Pogles' Wood ( & other Smallfilms ) were filmed!

Would have loved to have gone to that!

There's lots of photos of that event on Facebook where 'Pogles' End' has its own page.

Also if the promotional videos at Kickstarter are no longer available search for 'Pogles End' at Youtube where 2 of the results include the Kickstarter promos featuring clips from the long-unseen episodes!

Amazing to see that footage.
From their content I would guess one clip is from the episode 'Noisy Engines' & another from 'Bears In The Wood'.

There's 2 or 3 other clips which it isn't possible for me to surmise their origin :
But they are all unseen, unreleased clips!

At the official BBC Genome site ( based on Radio Times listings ) the last repeat showings of 'Pogles Wood' - which were originally broadcast from 1966-1968 - were 1970 for Series One
( except for one episode shown in 1971 ) and 1973
for Series Two.

So it's a long time indeed since anyone in the general UK public ( & probably worldwide ) has seen the relevant episodes.

The episodes which will be on the DVD will comprise all the unreleased episodes -
ie now every Pogles Wood episode ever made will be available!

The 14 mentioned here plus the 12 already released making the complete 26!
( or 32 including the 6 which comprise the earlier 'The Pogles' series ).

The 14 to be included are:

The 12 unreleased episodes of Series One :

Grains Of Wheat
Milk From The Dairy
Honey Bees **
Sheep's Wool
Eggs For Breakfast
Trains
Pig-In-The-Middle [ aka Tog-In-the-Middle ]
The Secret House
Noisy engines
Badgers & Bears
Tree Farming
Keep Clear Of The Water

** :
'Honey Bees' although completely new to DVD
did of course have a BBC VHS tape release as part of 'Watch With Mother: The Next Generation' many years ago' which many of us no doubt still have .

The only other episode of Series One is 'Cake Crumbs' which was on the DFS 'Pogles Wood' DVD of
some time ago.

Plus 2 episodes from Series Two :

Bears In The Wood
Roundabouts

The other 11 episodes of Series Two are on the DFS 'Pogles' Wood' & 'Pogles' Choice' DVDs.

Now here's a bit of me surmising ( it does go on for a while - so be warned! ):

In the clip from 'Bears In The Wood' one of the characters mentions that bears were in the story that was told last week:

With that in mind I notice that at the BBC Genome site in the listings for the 1st-ever showing of Series One in 1966;
'Bears In The Woods' is listed as part of Series One; ie listed as being broadcast the week after
'Badgers & Bears'.

The same is true for Series One's 1967 repeats
( it was repeated twice that year ).

Once Series Two starts though - in October 1967 - 'Bears In The Wood' is listed as part of Series Two's run & is included as part of that series for all repeats of Series Two.

In June 1968 for Season One's fourth run ( ie its third repeat ) 'Bears In The Woods' is no longer shown as part of it -
instead it is replaced for this & further repeats of Series One by 'Tree Farming' ( which had not been broadcast previously in either series ).

If it wasn't for the spoken comment in the 'Bears In The Wood' clip I would have assumed some sort of listings error either at the time or when the Genome site got going.

But the clip, with the dialogue as mentioned, indicates that 'Badgers & Bears' was indeed the previous episode;
especially as once 'Bears In The Wood' is eventually shown as part of Series Two it is preceded the week before by 'A Little House' which has no mention of bears in it.

So, my guess is that what happened is probably this:

'Bears In The Wood' was indeed originally shown as part of Series One:
Series One - & this point is completely factual - was intended to have an educational element while Series Two was orientated around storytelling :

So, ( I continue to guess ) probably 'Bears In The Wood' was made as an early experiment with the format they were hoping to use in Series Two, & was shown, perhaps to gauge audience reaction to this ( as well as to submit for approval from the BBC ) as part of Series One.

I'm just guessing this of course - & could be wildly wrong:
Not sure if it would be approved for broadcast Smallfilms had probably also made an additional episode more in the usual mode of Series One ( 'Tree Farming' ) to make up 13 full episodes for that Series;
ie in case the 'experiment' of 'Bears In The Woods' was actually not selected for broadcast.

Everything then going really well it was broadcast but when Series Two was made ( I continue to guess ), because of its storytelling mode 'Bears In The Wood' was thereafter shown as part of Series Two ( despite the incongruity in the dialogue )
while the previously unbroadcast 'Tree Farming' was inserted into Series One, having likewise thematic consistency with that series just as 'Bears In The Wood' has with Series Two.

Thanks for bearing with me ( no pun intended! );
just musing these thoughts aloud, & indeed trying to make things clearer to myself, via the computer keyboard really.

When I come to watch the newly released episodes I'll probably watch them in the order of:
'Badgers & Bears'
followed by 'Bears In The Wood',
followed by 'Tree Farming'.

And likewise in the future; as it will be nice to maintain the on-screen continuity -
unless there are other - as yet unseen - elements which contradict what I've been saying!

Anyway, it should be out in time for Christmas this year.
Hooray!